Some districts of North Karnataka have been receiving heavy rainfall for three days now. But officials say that despite heavy rainfall in some North Karnataka districts, there is no threat of a flood in the region.
Irrigation officials increased the outflow from the Alamatti Dam to over one lakh cusecs by Monday evening, due to increased inflow. The outflow in the morning was around 6,000 cusecs. This is a sudden increase, 17 times over the outflow in a single day. The dam now has 117 tmcft, which is 95% of its total water impounding capacity.
“Almatti outflow was increased to create a cushion for the inflow that included water discharge from Maharashtra of 57,000 cusecs and heavy rainfall in the basin areas. Water from Kallol Barrage in Belagavi will reach Alamatti in 36 hours. If inflow stays between 60,000 cusecs and 70,000 cusecs, the dam will get around six tmcft of water,’’ officials said.
With rainfall and water being discharged in the upper catchment areas of the Krishna, inflow increased beyond 40,000 cusecs. Revenue, Agriculture and other department officials have been asked to alert all downstream area residents of the increase in outflow. Irrigation officials said that there has been no threat of an imminent flood.
Belagavi Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil also said that there is no imminent threat of a flood either in the Krishna or the Malaprabha river basin. There has been heavy rain in some areas in the basin and there has been some crop damage too. But there is no threat of floods, he said.
Rainfall in Maharashtra is not very severe and the water levels in reservoirs in that State are not high enough to lead to huge water discharge. We are in constant touch with Maharashtra officials, he said.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority has sounded a yellow alert for North Karnataka districts.
The former Minister M.B. Patil toured some villages in Vijayapura district and spoke to farmers. He expressed anguish over the Chief Minister not announcing any specific relief to Vijayapura district. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has announced ₹200 crore as relief for rain loss. But Vijayapura district has got nothing.
The State government is discriminating against us even in calamity relief. What is the district in-charge Minister doing? The government is as good as dead for Vijayapura district, he said in a tweet.
The Chief Minister, however, replied that the amount for Vijayapura was not specified as it already has ₹28 crore in the Deputy Commissioner’s Personal Deposit Account. There is no discrimination in calamity relief distribution, the Chief Minister said.
Mr. Patil also demanded that the State government come up with a permanent resettlement plan for villages along the Doni river, as these places are repeatedly getting submerged. The government has also erred in survey of crop loss. A new survey should be conducted that is transparent and scientific. All victims should be properly compensated. The relief and resettlement should be based on the UKP model, he demanded. People from all vulnerable villages should be evacuated, he said.
Archaeological Survey of India officials said that there is no threat of submergence of monuments in Pattadakal or Badami. “The chance of submergence arises when the discharge into the Malaprabha crosses over 50,000 cusecs. Irrigation officials have said that the discharge now is less than 500 cusecs,’’ an officer said.
According to officials, the Renuka Sagar Dam on the Malaprabha has 27 tmcft of water against a full reservoir level of 37 tmcft. The inflow was 4,194 cusecs while outflow was only 294 cusecs.
The Raja Lakhamagouda Reservoir on the Ghataprabha in Hidkal has 41 tmcft of water against a full reservoir level of 51 tmcft. The Markandeya Reservoir recorded an inflow of 1,605 cusecs.
